Once again, you'll control both Wallace and Gromit at different times (it's about a 40/60 split this episode), which provides opportunities to explore the plot from different angles and engage in a broader range of challenges. Each character's personality plays into this significantly; Wallace is rather dim at times, progressing the story in a mostly accidental fashion, while Gromit takes more of a sleuthing approach. The controls themselves are skewed towards the console versions, and require PC users to move around with the WASD keys independently of selecting hotspots with the mouse. This pseudo-point-and-click setup can be adjusted, and folks who started with episode one (we strongly recommend you do so) should be used to it by now.

We're now halfway through the four-part series, and episode two doesn't quite ramp things up the way we'd have liked. Instead of expanding to new areas, you're stuck going back over the same places you've visited before - aside from the living room, which was blocked off for bee keeping storage supplies in the first installment. Even though there's been a lot of work put into making existing locales look and feel fresh, the lack of any substantive new locations to explore is a bit disappointing. Additionally, there are some particularly witty puzzles to dig into (and a few truly zany moments), but The Last Resort is missing some of the excitement found in first episode. Though the wrap-up is good, it doesn't come close to the crazy ending of Fright of the Bumblebees, and there aren't any moments like the potato-gun shootout to speak of.

The Last Resort falls slightly short of the debut episode. Overall, it's not a huge disappointment, because the game's characters are still quite charming and there's a lot of smart stuff being worked into the series that sets it apart from your average point-and-click adventure. As far as adventure games go, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures has yet to eclipse Telltale's previous efforts with Sam & Max and Strongbad, but there's still hope the next two episodes will deliver on this series' promise.

By Nathan Meunier
CCC Staff Contributor